Chelsea looked the far better side throughout a goalless first half before Stoke midfielder Jon Walters found the net soon after the break on 52 minutes. The Blues left it late to equalise through Loic Remy deep into injury time and force the tie into extra time and ultimately a penalty shootout. The home side was clinical from the spot, slotting home all five of their penalties before the usually reliable Eden Hazard stepped up and missed the all-important fifth kick for the Blues.

Although we needed yet another piece of individual brilliance from Willian to scrape a victory over Dynamo Kiev in the Champions League during midweek, there were other positive signs to take from performance apart the Brazilian's sublime free-kick.

We controlled the game for long periods and ended the game with a 54% share of the possession – something of a rarity this season given our lack of efficiency with the ball. Stoke will likely adopt a similar approach to that of Kiev on Wednesday evening, who deserve credit for keeping themselves well and truly in the game for much of the 90 minutes.

He was only afforded a 12-minute fling against the Ukrainians, but Eden Hazard looked somewhat sharp in the light of his drab campaign to date, which can only mean good things for our creativity in the final third. Let's hope he's full of energy and raring to reproduce some of the magic we saw so often last season.